kitchen sink waste water discharge to rain/stormwater drains

MuffinsDa

My parents bought an old house a few years ago. The water from kitchen sink seems to be discharged into a drain just outside of the house on the driveway which appears to be a rainwater drain (as some downpipes also use that drain).
I know this is not allowed any more but how does the law apply to previously built houses. By the look of it the wastewater pipe was there for a long time, do they need to think about finding a way to route it somewhere else, or are they ok to keep it as is until such time that they decide to renovate etc?

The house is within Dun Loaghiare / Rathrown county by the way.

DOCARCH

You should try and find out first if there is a seperate (public) foul and surface water drainage system in the area. If you contact the Drainage Dept in DLRCC, and give the address, they will be able to tell you - they will not ask you necessarily why you are looking for the information. Alternatively, you could call in to DLRCC and have a look at the drainage maps.

If there is not a sperate foul and surface water drainage system, i.e. if the system is combined, then all should be o.k.

If there is a seperate drainage systems, then, as you suspect, it's not good to have 'dirty' water going into the 'clean' water system.

Solair

You can usually figure it out if there are two manholes outside your house.

Ours has two manholes at every junction.

It's also not good to run rainwater into foul drains as it increases the volume of water going to the treatment works and can cause pollution during serious downpours by overwhelming sewers.

DOCARCH

Solair wrote: »

You can usually figure it out if there are two manholes outside your house.

Agreed, but not always as easy as that.